60 Days of Halloween 2018… begins

By Alex Wiggan

*Holds up hand*

I am a self-confessed Halloween nut. I really, really like Halloween.

Birthdays are OK, Christmas is fine, but Halloween is more my thing and as such, each year I get very excited in the run-up to October 31st. Yeah, I know it’s only the beginning of September, but as I’ve just stated, I get very excited in the run-up and as far as I’m concerned that’s now!

Each year, as the evenings begin to get shorter, the leaves start to fall and the temperature drops, I get in the autumnal/Halloween mindset. This means, I stock up on sweet treats, I contemplate this year’s Halloween costume and I kick-start a Halloween-themed marathon.

My Halloween marathons usually consist of a set number of days where I watch/read/partake in some kind of horror-themed activity. This can be anything from watching a scary movie to pumpkin carving and so on.

The Halloween marathons vary in length and usually begin when I’m feeling in the mood to throw myself into the season. Two years ago I undertook 52 days of Halloween; last year it was a whooping 270!

Yep, for 270 days of 2017 (beginning in February) I took part in a daily Halloween-themed activity. It was fun, it was intense, it’s something I won’t be repeating in a hurry. I love Halloween, but 270 days was far too long.

This year, I am kick-starting my Halloween marathon TODAY! As such, this year it will be 60 Days of Halloween – a far easier to manage celebration.

I started 60 Days of Halloween this morning with a viewing of the 1964 Japanese horror movie, Onibaba – a film I had never seen before. Very creepy, Onibaba gets the thumbs up from me!

If you’ve never watched Onibaba before and you fancy giving it a go, then you should expect a small-scale affair which is low on scares, but big on atmosphere. It’s best viewed with the lights off.

Tomorrow I will continue the marathon with another horror-related offering and then so on up until Halloween 2018. There are no real rules to the marathon, just a self-imposed effort to try and incorporate as much new material into the event as possible.

This year, I’ve got a bunch of new films I want to watch and who knows, maybe a few new activities too. Whatever I do, I’ll be sure to talk about it on It’s A Stampede!.

I’ll be doing a daily update on the blog to highlight what I’ve been watching/doing etc. So, should Halloween be your thing then make sure you keep checking in to see how this year’s Halloween-a-thon is going.